Elvis Presley, famously known as “The King of Rock and Roll,” had a larger-than-life persona both on stage and in his personal life. However, towards the end of his life, Elvis became known for his significant weight gain, a period often referred to as the “Fat Elvis” phase. His struggle with weight and health issues during his later years became a topic of widespread discussion. This article delves into the details surrounding his weight gain, his health problems, and how much he weighed at the time of his death.
The King’s Weight Struggles
Elvis Presley was an icon, of course — he possessed massive stage charisma and a voice that drew deep from the soul while apparently doing so without much exertion. But there were huge health issues going on behind the scenes which left his weight piling-on. Elvis Presley weighed about 350 pounds when he died on August 16, 1977.
That was nearly 180 pounds more than he had weighed a decade earlier. The change in his physical appearance shocked fans and was something that accompanied him to the rest of his days.While some of it could maybe have been blamed on aging,
I knew a lot of Elvis’s weight gain was due to eating poorly and not being able to do the types or quantity of exercise at his age that he had done in 1973; as well as an increasing dependance upon prescription drugs. Elvis’s lifestyle became more turbulent throughout the 1970s, which largely exacerbated his weight issues. But his diet — plenty of comfort foods and, reportedly at one point in the mid-1970s, a dozen or more Pepsi-Cola cans per day plus bacon-wrapped peanut butter-banana toasted-cheese sandwiches with generous helpings of lard gravy — wrought as much havoc on that colonel-sandwich physique behind-the-scenes as Gene Hackman did.
The Impact of Prescription Drugs
Elvis became ill from the use of prescription drugs. He also used excessive amounts of “downers”, including barbiturates and sedatives. These substances were not only making him fat, but also severely harmed his health. The King’s doctor, Dr. George Nichopoulos was a prescription fiend and reportedly doled out thousands of pills in the last few years of Elvis pleaseance ailments.
The medication carried side effects – like fluid retention that only gave him a more puffy appearance, adding to his weight gain. Poor eating with heavy drug use created a never-ending vicious cycle of severe health concerns.
Attempts at Weight Loss
Elvis did try to get back into shape because he was so sick but it just never happened. Nevertheless, his means often very extreme and irresponsible. Elvis once attempted the ‘Sleeping Beauty Diet’, which involves being heavily sedated for several days with no food. It ended abruptly, with Elvis allegedly falling off the bed before actually passing out and vowing never to do coke ever again.
In one exercise, he attempted to dine only on jellies made from grape-flavored black-cherry soda and bananasn but these extreme measures were unsustainable and failedt doo little adress the underlying problems which had caused him his weight gain.
The Role of Stress and Personal Life
His weight problems were not just the result of his food and drug consumption — as was often reported, so much that by 1973 he had become something of a grotesque blob. Given that it started reasonably normally but becoming psychological over time for Elvis, gaining so much height apparently almost doubled in thickness is at least partially due to this claim | Pictured with Priscilla; Marchese De Dracularbourg / Faye Sadou / SIPA/Shutterstock Priscilla Presley in 1973 turned out to be a turning point for him. It was assumed, probably correctly that the break up had a great impact on him and it led to an increase in his drug consumption and subsequently, another drop of health.
His friends also saw that after the divorce occurred, Elvis apparently didn’t have any reason to keep his body in top shape and he let himself go massively putting on a ton of weight. On top of the touring schedule, Elvis felt pressured to be nothing short of The King Of Rock N Roll and was under such immense stress. It caused him more anxiety which only made his health problems that much worse, which then led to unhealthy habits.
Final Days and Legacy
Elvis was in poor health during his final days. Doctors had hospitalized him numerous times for conditions including blood pressure problems, an enlarged colon, and liver damage. His once dynamic, charming presence had long since eroded when he died at 42. Girlfriend Ginger Alden discovered Elvis unresponsive on the toilet at his Graceland bathroom. The doctors pronounced him dead, and they later determined the official cause to be a heart attack, or more specifically, cardiac arrhythmia.
While he may never have been able to completely overcome his battles with weight and live it down as our culture has immortalized him in the guise of “Fat Elvis,” we should also be careful not to make light of just how complex a character was (and sadly still is) beneath these shared images. Unprecedented impact on music, culture, and entertainment. That is a pity because the fact that he was so large near to approaching death takes away some attention from how much of an influence he had in rock and roll.
The Bottom Line
In his later years, Elvis Presley ended up putting on a ton of weight and thus looked nothing like he did in the earlier stages of being an entertainer. By the time he died, he tipped 350 pounds [i.e. a touch over 75 stone] through poor diet, prescription drug abuse, and vulnerability inherent in juggling chaos at home with demands of work. I love it but also remember the “Fat Elvis” phase — as sad and deplorable looking this man became, he is still one of history’s greatest entertainers.
While Elvis Presley has become a modern symbol of the destructive aspects tied to fame in our society, we would all do better to remember that he will always be an icon — not only for his demons but also for what he helped create and leave behind. His life was far from perfect, but his story is so much more than “Fat Elvis” — it’s the tale of a singer whose influence and music lives on worldwide to this day.
